The ones to go into the toughest gold-bordered S-grade dungeon—Forest of the Dead were as follows, from strongest to weakest members of the party.
Rudra Deva, Dylan Makana, Zauna Okoro, and Christina Lafayette were in the old monster category. Makana, Lafayette, and Okoro families were also the top 10 families, and they were the old heads.
The total number of people in this party was eighteen.
The other notable figures in the party were the Guild Leader of Proximax Guild—Liam Sunbreak, the Guild Leader of 5th rank Silverfang Guild—Damian Silverfang, and Lady Aria of the League of Firefly guild.
There were two red-bordered S-grade dungeons, which were just one level below gold-bordered, so those two also warranted stronger parties than others.
All in all, the twelve parties departed and entered the S-grade dungeons in different parts of the world, but…there was more to this than met the eyes.
As Rudra’s party arrived in the dungeon, Rudra turned around to face everyone.
The other three old monsters, Dylan, Zauna, and Christina, walked and stood beside him as they faced the rest of the party.
“Before we proceed, we have something to do,” Rudra said as his eyes swept across them before stopping on the Guild Leader of the 20th rank guild—Ironthorn Guild, Menek Combart.
Dylan pointed his index finger at Menek as it eerily glowed with volcanic lava matter and formed a tiny dot.
“What is going on?” Liam frowned.
“Everyone aside from Menek, come and stand beside us,” Zauna plainly said as her shamanic staff, which had a strange snake’s head and two different-colored pearly eyes, appeared in her hand.
Everyone sweated heavily as that cursed staff appeared. It was a relic of the Okoro clan that turned magical a few years ago, and they had seen its power first-hand during the 7th Floor’s Floor Boss fight.
“What is the meaning of this, Admiral Rudra?” Menek frowned while sweating bullets, looking confused. “What did I do?”
Christina’s wand flickered with hazy red and gold patterns as she also pointed it at Manek and smiled. “Don’t be nervous. If you’ve done nothing, then you don’t have to worry about anything.”
“Here’s the question, Menek. Where were you from the 5th December to the 7th December?” Rudra asked with a deadpan expression as he stood with his arms crossed, aura heavy. Simply standing like that made him look more intimidating than the other three old monsters who had pointed their weapons at Menek.
“Answer carefully.”
…
In the red-bordered S-grade dungeon—Utopia of Entanglement.
When the party entered inside, a similar scene happened.
Arjun Maheshwari, Hiroshi Ryugiri, and Bianca Moretti, the three old monsters from the top 10 families, confronted the family head of a less-renowned top 50 family—Jakaal Carter.
…
In another red-bordered S-grade Dungeon—Cascading Light Grove, the same thing happened.
This party also had three old monsters— Bran Gabris, James Smith, and Rafael Chavez.
The Gabris and Smith families were in the top 10, while the Chavez family was in the top 20. However, in terms of overall strength, old monster Rafael was stronger, as the combat powers of old monsters were not related to their family’s power.
They also pointed out a member of the party–the guild leader of the 23rd rank Rosysky Guild, Khawa Ayaz.
“Khawa, where were you from the 5th of December to the 7th of December?” asked the Blackstar Guild leader, Ruyi Hexing, as she pointed her black meteor longsword at Khawa.
…
“I was just at the guild, Admiral. I wanted to come watch the tournament, but there was an A-rank dungeon turning black-bordered. I had to go,” Menek said with a weak smile. “I have a proof as well.”
“Is that so? So you were in the dungeon for two whole days?” Rudra raised his eyebrows.
“Yes,” Menek nodded. “I got an opportunity and insight, so I wanted to get my Wood elemental mastery to S-rank.”
Dylan and the other two asked random questions, according to Rudra’s plan, while Rudra was not just watching Menek, but the others as well.
He had included four people in this party he was suspicious about, with his gut telling him that they were the “bad” ones responsible for the unexplainable incidents.
The meeting held at the GAA was not just about resolving the 10th Floor’s situation, but also pulling out the rats.
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He had admonished the “rats” many times during the meeting, and revealed his suspicions to everyone, and how he thought they were responsible for the Labyrinth.
Everything he did was to get a reaction out of those people and observe everyone in the meeting with his highest mastery of the Focus Field and his senses.
Whenever he got suspicious, he contacted his men in GAA to investigate using their Arcane Tower and other methods, especially since he had noticed some leaders of families and guilds vanishing for two days, from 5th to 7th December. His guts told him there was something wrong.
As such, he made a list in his head and came up with a plan for clearing S-grade dungeons. This was a reasonable step in order to defeat the 10th floor Floor Boss with lower casualty and higher chance, as well as a good opportunity to pull out the rats.
And as Menek was being asked the questions, he was observing other people in the party. Their eyes, their vibe, gave out a clear indication of what they were feeling.
Moreover, one of them made a fatal mistake.
That one person…the family head of a top 50 family, Arwa Fadelin, used Magic Whisper to contact the other three people in the party.
And at that, he observed the three people’s expressions and confirmed it.
He immediatly Magic Whispered to Dylan, Zauna, and Christina.
‘Apprehend the Fedelin family head, Hassan family head, and that Lunarcrest Guild leader. Disable them completely.’
In the next second, Rudra and the other three made a move abruptly. No one expected it, not even the rats, so they were caught quickly.
One of them was bound by snakes and instantly poisoned as he was completely paralyzed.
The other two were smacked on the ground and bound with control-type skills used by Dylan and Christina.